Married Gladys Smith 1963, Los Angeles California Temple; six children

President of Costa Rican Mission 1977-1980

Second Quorum of Seventy 1991-1996

Died 2009, Layton, Utah

This biographical sketch is adapted from the "News
of the Church: Elder Joseph C. Muren of the Seventy" published in the Ensign
for May 1991 on the occasion of Elder Muren's call to the Second Quorum
of the Seventy.

Joseph C. Muren and his wife, Gladys, are first-generation
members of the Church. “Without growing up in the Church, we have often
found ourselves asking each other, ‘Are we doing this right?’ ” Joseph
Muren says with a grin, adding that he thought that being a convert to
the Church probably would be useful in relating to other converts, especially
now that four times more people join the Church each year than are born
into it.

Born in Richmond, California, on 5 February 1936,
Joseph grew up in a Catholic home with a mother of Italian descent and
a father of Yugoslavian descent. Sister Muren, formerly Gladys Smith, was
brought up a Methodist, in Colusa, California.

Joseph attended San Jose State University, where
a roommate invited him to institute classes. “I became interested enough
to take the discussions, but I promised my parents that I would wait until
I was twenty-one to be baptized,” he explains.

An avid reader, Joseph devoured every book or pamphlet
the missionaries gave him. Near his twenty-first birthday, he was baptized,
not only giving up any hope of inheriting his father’s business but also
creating strained relations with his family, who
felt that to leave the Catholic church was to leave the family.

As a young man, Joseph had given thought to becoming
a priest. “I wanted to serve God with my life, but I also wanted a family,”
explains Elder Muren.

Within a year of his baptism, he served a mission
in Argentina, adding to his Italian a knowledge of Spanish. Following his
mission, he taught high school math and language while earning a master’s
degree at San Jose. About this time, Gladys started attending institute
classes with her roommate and was soon baptized. The Murens were married
in 1963 in the Los Angeles Temple. The next year, Brother Muren began doctoral
work at the University of Southern California, which he completed in 1969.

“It was at El Camino College that I began teaching
in the institute program,” he remembers. A fourteen-year career with the
Church Educational System followed, leading the growing Muren family from
Long Beach State to Stanford to Weber State
College. They lived in Costa Rica from 1977 until 1980, while Joseph
served as mission president there, and where the Murens’ sixth child, Natasha,
was born. The family then moved to South America, where Joseph served as
director for temporal affairs (DTA) for the Church in Peru, then in Argentina,
then in Sydney, Australia. A DTA works under the direction of Area Presidencies,
administering the temporal aspects of the Church in the area.

The Murens’ five other children include Cynthia (Bassett)
of Houston, Texas; Michael, age twenty-two; Michelle, age twenty; Tricia,
age nineteen; and Marshawn, seventeen. Marshawn and Natasha live in England
with Brother and Sister Muren, where Elder Muren has been serving as a
DTA since 1989.

To those close to him, Elder Muren’s qualifications
to serve and lead are quite separate from either his DTA work or being
a convert.

“He is a man of great faith who has taught us how
important it is to rely entirely on the Lord,” Sister Muren says. “And
as I’ve watched him give counsel—as a father, a bishop, or a teacher—I
realize he has an uncommon gift.”

“Dad is quite intense and leaves an impression on
you when he talks to you,” adds Michelle. “He is the most understanding
man I’ve ever talked to.” She describes the family dinner hour as “long
and wonderful. All of us learned more in those discussions, probably, than
in all the classes we ever attended.

“Everything from world events to personal feelings
would come up. What an influence he’s been on our lives and on the lives
of many other people!”

Beginning at the family dinner table, continuing
outward as he taught institute and Education Week classes and then managed
temporal affairs, Joseph C. Muren has shared his witness of Jesus Christ.
Now that he is a member of the Seventy, that
influence will continue to be felt throughout the Church.

Elder Muren served the duration of his five year call
to the Second Quorum of the Seventy with distinction and was honorably released October
5, 1996.

Elder Joseph Carl Muren, who served as a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy, passed away at his home in Layton,
Utah, on July 27, 2009. He was 73.

Elder Muren served in many capacities in the Church, including: mission president of the San Jose Costa Rica Mission
from 1977-80, temple sealer, counselor in a stake presidency, stake mission president, high councilor, stake Young Men president
and bishop.

Elder Muren was called to the Second Quorum of the Seventy in 1991. He served in the Presidency of the Europe
Mediterranean Area and as president of the Central America Area. He was given an honorable release in 1996.

At the time of his call to the Seventy, he was director of temporal affairs for the Church in the British Isles. Prior
to that he was an administrator in the Church Educational System in California and Utah and the Church's director of temporal
affairs for Ireland and Africa. Before retiring, he again worked for the Church in the Human Resource Department.

Elder Muren met missionaries and joined the Church at age 21 while attending San Jose State University in San Jose,
California. He told the Church News about his conversion in an article published in 1991.

"The Spirit of God came into my body as a fire. . it left me physically exhausted but totally assured that the Church
was true. Now I knew for myself.

"As the years have passed, I have recognized more fully that it was not just a spiritual experience of the moment, but
rather I was the recipient of a testimony, a gift from Heavenly Father, that when nourished and cherished would have lasting
effects upon me every day of my life."

Elder Muren was born Feb. 5, 1936, in Richmond, Calif., to Joseph F. and Alba Maria Cairo Muren. He grew up in San
Francisco, where he spent a lot of time with his grandfather, an Italian immigrant who taught him a great respect for God
and the importance of attending church.

A year after he was baptized, he served a mission to Argentina. Upon returning home, he earned a master's degree in
history from San Jose State and a Ph. D. in education administration from the University of Southern California.

During his college years he met Gladys Smith, a student who was investigating the Church. She was baptized and a year
later they were married in the Los Angeles Temple. They have six children and nine grandchildren.

He is remembered as a gifted teacher who showed students his love of teaching and learning from the scriptures.

Funeral services were held Saturday, Aug. 1, 2009, in Layton, Utah. Elder Charles Didier of the Seventy and Elder
Claudio R.M. Costa of the Presidency of the Seventy spoke and read a letter from the First Presidency honoring Elder Muren
during the services. Also in attendance were Elder Spencer J. Condie and Elder Kenneth Johnson of the Seventy, and Bishops H.
David Burton and Keith B. McMullin of the Presiding Bishopric.